The Chases in Vietnam: Seth's Blog pre-empts chili oil

Dear A,

So, I was ready to write to you about our chili oil, and I'd already taken the pictures and been mentally composing the letter ... and then today Seth Godin sent out an email that I thought particularly apropos.

In his post, he recommends against speaking to a crowd. In my case, that's EXACTLY what I'm doing when I chose you to write to. I'm still going to write about chili oil, but tomorrow.

Love,
Tim

PS. It's been an exciting couple of weeks since I posted on Facebook about returning to live in Vietnam. Former students have been reaching out to me and getting reconnected. It's what we hoped would happen, and it's happening sooner than it might have. Super gratified that one of the girls that we made a good connection with 10 years ago (but whom we haven't seen or heard from in the interim) has reached out and is looking forward to reconnecting.

View Online

The 1:1 method

The reason that most memos, speeches and edicts fall flat is simple: we get stuck on the idea that we’re talking to a crowd.

When we’re speaking or writing, the crowd is just an illusion. What’s actually happening is that there is one person over there, another over there, repeated again and again until it’s easier to imagine it’s a mass audience.

The alternative method is simple: find one person, exactly one, and write to them, allowing the others to listen in.

Embrace the tone of voice, body posture, breathing style and punctuation you’d use on just one person. You and me, here and now.

If it’s not going to work for one person, why do think it will work on a crowd?